Improvement in amalgamators



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BUGKSPORT, p MAINE.

Letters .Patent No. 77,097, dated April 21, 1868.

IMPROVEMENT' vIN AMlLeAMAToss.

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TO ALL WOM IT MAY GNCERN: i Be it knownithat we, W'ILLIAM RBBINS, of Hinsdale, in the county ci' Du Page, and State of Illinois, and EDWARD. SWASEY, of Bucksport, in'the county of Hancock, and State of Maine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in 'Amalgamators'g and we do hereby declaro that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, and to thelet'ters of reference marked thereon, like letters indicating like parts wherever they occur.

To enable others skilled in the art to construct and use our invention, we will proceed to describe it.

Our invention consists in a novel construction of a machine for washing and separating gold by thevproA cess oi` amalgamation, as hereinafter more fully described.

Figure 1 is a vertical section of our improved apparatus, and.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a portion detached.

The principle on which our improved apparatus operates is that of feeding the pulverized quartz, or other gold-bearing material, down into and under a c olumn of mercury, through which it rises, and with which it is thoroughly intermingled, for the purpose of causing the particleszof gold to be brought into contact with the mercury, and amalgamated therewith, and thus saved. i

We constructa tub or vessel, A, of suitable size, of copper, or of wood or metal lined with copper, by' preference,'although this lining is not absolutely essential. Within this vessel'is placed a vertical pipe or' tube, B, provided at its upper end with a hopper, pH, to receive the pulverized quarta and water, as hereinafter explained. This tube B is open at its" lower end, which is supported on a pivot, on which it turns freely, itsupper portion being supported by any suitable frame,` to hold it upright. y v

Near its bottom, this 'tube B has attached to it a perforated disk, a, and it is provided above the -disk with a series of radial arms, b, as shown more clearly ing. 2. .The tube B is provided with a stop-cock,`cl, for the purpose oishutting oil' and regulating the low of material .through it when desired, and has also secured to it a wheel, t, bywhich it is rotated. A bevelgear, mounted on the tube B, engages with and imparts motion -to a similar wheel, K, attached to the frameL, and to a pinprojecting from the faceof the wheel K is connected the end of a pitman, l, the opposite end of which is jointed to the end of a rod, f, which extends vertically vwithin the .tube B to its top, where it is curved, as shown, and bent downward to. meetthe pitman b. '.lo the bottom of the tubAis attached an escape-pipe, C,- pro'vided with a cock, e, as represented in iig. 1, and to the inside of the tub A, nearits bottom, is secured anl annular'ilange, e, as represented in g. 1.

In constructing the apparatus,.care must be taken to make' the tube Bof such a height that the column of quartz and water fed into it at H shall have sudicient hydrostatic pressure to force its way down through Y the mercury in the tube B, and iow out'at the bottom of the tube B, from whence it will rise through the mer= cury in the tub, owing to the fact of its specific gravity being less than thatof the mercury.

The operation is as follows: The tub A'being supplied wit-h a suitable quantity of mercury, and the apparatus being set in motion, the pulverized quartz, or other gold or other ,metal-bearing material, together with a our* rent of water, is fed into the hopper H, and thence down through. the tube B. As the latter revolves, the rod f prevents the material from being clogged within the tube, causing it to discharge regularly and constantly at the lower end, from whence it ows'out from -under the disk a, and impinges more or less against theange c, and as it rises through the mass of-mercury, it is thoroughly mixed and intermingled therewith, so as to insure A bringing every particle of the gold, or other metal, into contact with the mercury, and thus save it. The gold, or other metal, being thus arrested and held by the mercury, the water and quartz rise to the top'and ow away.

It is obvious thatl the agitatorf may be detached and withdrawn at any time, and that, if it extends -tol the bottom, as it should, it must necessarily be withdrawn before the cockB can be closed. Motion may be imparted to the tube B by a'belt, or by any suitable meansi By these improvements we are enabled to save a much larger percentage of the gold than has heretofore been possible by the various devices used; the annual loss' by defective apparatus used,.a1nou`ntirig to millions.,

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is 1. The agitator f, arranged to operate in connection with the tube B, substantially as described. I 2. An amalgamator, consisting of a tub for holding the mercury, and a rotatingtube provided with,4 arms for stirring and mixing the gold, or other material, with the mercury, and havngjits lower open end arranged to feed the material into the"n1ercury near the bottom of tbe tub, with the agitator f for preventing the tube' from becoming clogged or choked, al1 constructed and arranged to operate substantially as shown and described. WILLIAM ROBBIN S,

EDWARD SWASEY.

Witnesses:

W: G."Do1 ee, S. M. Poor.. 

